Final assessment of Georgian combat operations will not be made public this year

By Gvantsa Gabekhadze

Friday, October 18

The final assessment of the enquiry commission investigating combat operations in Georgia from the 1990s till 2008 will not be made public this year. The Minister of Defense Irakli Alasania made a statement concerning this issue late on October 16th. The minister reiterated that the commission is “absolutely apolitical” and has no links with the upcoming presidential election in Georgia.

“This is not a political assessment but rather an evaluation of the tactical, operative and strategic combat operations that will serve to improve our armed forces." Alasania said, stressing that it will take “no more than a few months to provide the first part of the report to the Ministry of Defense.”

The minister revealed that a certain part of the enquiry will be made available to the public to enable experts working on security and defense issues to analyze developments.

As part of the enquiry, more than 600 interviews were conducted.

Secretary of the National Security Council Giga Bokeria has defended the commission's work:

"The Ministry of Defense is analyzing events, studying Russian aggression and the Georgian army’s military reaction. The process is absolutely legitimate. We did the same kind of analysis with our allies after the August War. The fact that the Ministry of Defense went back to the same issues is normal,” Bokeria stated. He added though that the commission's findings might be influenced by some politicians' statements.

“Certain people have made statements that suggest that the aggressor in the August War was Georgia and not Russia.” Bokeria stated.

The Combat Actions Enquiry Commission is working to analyze the experience of Georgian troops taking part in military operations, not only in Georgia but overseas as part of international peacekeeping missions. The commission is composed of high-ranking officials from the armed forces and representatives of other agencies.